I don’t understand what agents want from teams. Actually, I do understand. Agents want their clients to get the best payday they can. Ideally, some probably want their clients to play someplace where they want to play, but that’s not necessarily a requirement. Martin Havlat is playing for the Wild on a $30 million, six [...]
It’s looking like the third line is the place to be for NHL stars. Chicago’s Patrick Kane practiced with the third line yesterday (with Dave Bolland and Viktor Stalberg), presumably to help him remember his defensive responsibilities, but also to get his offense going, too. Over in New Jersey, Ilya Kovalchuk is playing with Jamie [...]
Whatever the issue was with Devils coach John MacLean and Ilya Kovalchuk that led to Kovalchuk being scratched from Saturday’s Devils’ loss to the Sabres, it shows just how raw and unpolished a coach MacLean is. I’m on the record as being a fan of MacLean. I thought he would be the kind of coach [...]
Jim Kelley has an interesting column about teams embracing the shakeup trade. Or at least teams talking about embracing the shakeup trade. Ottawa GM Bryan Murray isn’t happy with the play of the Senators (specifically his defense, and more specifically, Erik Karlsson and Brian Lee), so he’s talking about making an early trade to shake [...]
So the New York Rangers have played just four games this season and already coach John Tortorella and GM Glen Sather are in the middle of a complex game of “This season is HIS fault.” Tortorella has been less and less subtly complaining about his roster. Tortorella’s defense is very young and very right-handed. He’s [...]
You have to give Sharks coach Todd McLellan a lot of credit. The burn on the Sharks has always been that the team is great in the regular season but disappears in the playoffs. So to start off this season, the Sharks have been decidedly flat. And just like that, the burn is gone. No [...]
F. Scott Fitzgerald famously wrote “There are no second acts in American lives,” which makes it especially vindicating that goalie Brent Johnson, an American playing a Canadian game, seems to be in the throes of a genuine second act. Johnson, signed as a backup by the Penguins last year and given a two-year extension last [...]
You have to respect the Blackhawks. Sure, there’s that whole Stanley Cup thing. But also, there’s their never-ending goaltending controversy. The goalies change, but the drama doesn’t. The Blackhawks never have a cut-and-dried starting goalie. It looked like Marty Turco had the starting job after he was signed in the off-season (and after Cristobal Huet [...]
We’ve all wandered around an arena or stadium, imagining what we would change if we had the chance. Maybe it’s something as simple as the colors. Maybe it’s the bathroom location. Or maybe it’s the sight lines. Part of being a sports fan means feeling invested in where you watch the sport. I remember spending [...]
Yesterday’s Rangers/Islanders afternoon game was interesting because it saw the Rangers pretty much pick up where they left last season — following strong games with incredibly sloppy performances. Where the Rangers were aggressive and effective in their first game of the season against the Sabres, against the Islanders they were passive and careless. The Rangers [...]
